I commuted for my Masters and was on campus three or four days a week (sometimes five) for the first eight months. The journey was an hour and a half each way and involved driving to the station, a train journey, a bus the other end, then a ten minute walk to campus. That was on a good day. When the buses were full, the trains were delayed or there were roadworks, it took considerably longer. I think the record for one journey was five and a half hours (the train broke down and the first couple of attempts to sort it out it just made things worse).

However....

I did it and ended up with a good result. The train journey was actually pretty trouble-free when averaged across a year, and the time on board gave me valuable thinking space to wind up in the mornings and down again at night. I'm very glad that I did it - and feel proud that I managed it well. A friend of mine is currently commuting from Leicester to Birmingham for her Masters, which is a one hour train journey. She has a one mile walk at either end as well. There's no doubt that she finds it hard work, but it's a means to an end.

Having a Masters for life, far outweighs the inconvenience of the routine commute and occasional bit of nonsense over a single year. It takes commitment and can be a slog, but doing a Masters involves both of those things even if you live five minutes' walk away

I'm in a similar situation! I'm applying to Dublin and Belfast and I'm considering commuting from Dublin to Belfast if it's there where I get an offer. I've read I would only need to be in campus two or three days a week, so I think it's a better option than living in Belfast. Sure it's going to be tough, but if you look on the bright side, you will have plenty of time to get work done while you're on the train.

I also commuted for my MA and had a journey very like Klix88's, from the sounds of it: a walk to the station, a train ride of about an hour followed by a bus of 20-40mins, depending on traffic, and then another ten minute walk. It usually took me 2 hrs, door to door. Thankfully, all my classes were on one day, so I only had to do it once a week (though I was working a full-time job for the rest of the week).

To echo Klix, it was absolutely worth it: no where else offered the MA I was studying, and I couldn't have paid for it without living where I was and staying in my job. That said, it was frustrating; I missed out on a lot of the community-based things that make doing an MA especially stimulating: departmental speakers, reading groups, getting to know your fellow students etc. I also had to be crazy organized with books: you can't just nip over to the library if you forget to pick something up, you have to know in advance of being on campus exactly what books you're going to need for the next however long you're not going to be there. It will be harder to form relationships with fellow students and professors, which may come into play if you are planning to apply for a PhD - you can definitely work to get around this issue (I got involved with a few select things - e.g. a conference at my uni - that helped me build good relationships with particular faculty) but you need to be aware of it and be proactive to counter it.

I attended Sheffield for my undergrad and hopefully going back there next year! I read History and Politics, amazing depts. both of them. Who will be your supervisor in the Pol dept.? I currently commute from Leicester to Birmingham for my masters. It's about an hour and half each way and is totally do-able